For a 29 track free mixtape, this ain't bad. While on the first listen I was underwhelmed I have gone back to it have found more. And while Game rarely talks about much I still find him enjoyable over reasonable beats, for which enough of these are. It is good to hear though that Game said nothing on this is strong enough for the final album except for 'The Kill' which is the best track here. And while Game still goes off-topic a tad (like talking about 50 again) it sees him getting a touch more thoughtful, all be it hypocritically given what he generally raps about. Game is obviously a student of hip hop as you can tell from his frequent name dropping, but also from his changes in style. 'R.I.P Story' is reminiscent of Will Smith's storytelling tunes such as 'Nightmare on my Street', 'Children's Story' is obviously a take on Slick Rick's version, and Game's flow on 'Purp and Yellow' is very similar to T.I. 'History' with legends BDK, KRS and Doug E Fresh also shows this homage to the genre. [i]KRS-One spits like, Doug beatbox like, and you know that Kane spit like, and that’s the reason Game spits like." A few tracks don't live up to much. 'Wonderful World' never goes anywhere, 'In My '64' and 'Dedicated' are nothing new from Pharrell who is slipping. The two Dre produced tracks must be mentioned - 'Soft Rhodes' and 'The Ocean' are also nothing too special, the latter one is a lil better though which finishes the mixtape. 'Ferrari Lifestyle' is okay also, but feels like an 'Aston Martin Music' clone. And toward the end of the second disc, 'Whip It', 'Favourite DJ' and 'Can a Drummer Get Some' are all more club orientated and leave something to be desired for me. There ain't anything amazing on this much talked about mixtape, but I like enough of it to give it a reasonable score, and I think if you're a fan and spin this more than once you'll agree. After hearing a lot of the singles/leaked tracks from The Game over the last few months/year, I was anticipating The R.E.D. Album less and less, but this has heightened my expectations slightly. Best Tracks: L.A. Times, Livin Better, I'm the King, Children's Story, Taylor Made, Dead, The Kill, Heart Breaker, Bad Intentions, Supastar, History

A good album from a time when Game had a gritty voice closely akin to Shyne. I've always liked this album. Best Tracks: Anything You Ask For, Gettin' American Money Easy, Walk Wit Me, That's Presidents

It's disappointing that JT and The Game had a falling out, as this has some nicely produced tracks by JT. Track for track there isn't a lot that is brilliant here but there is plenty of good tracks on offer for fans of The Game. You'll notice as well his voice is different with more grittiness to it than you hear on his albums later on. Best Tracks: Blacksox, Troublesome, Rookie Card, Promised Land, Gutta Boyz, Put It in the Air

1|Intro - Documentary 2 2|On Me - Kendrick returns after he dominated 'The City' on The R.E.D. Album and featured on Jesus Piece also. Game doesn't let him outshine him to the same degree over Erykah Badu's 'On & On' sample featured on this song. Game spits at a fast tempo here and it doesn't quite sound natural for Game to do so. Good song overall. 3|Step Up| - The Game has said that he created this album song after song, in tracklist order, and that's one of the reasons for the great transitions from song to song as is the case at the start of this song from 'On Me'. This is probably my favourite song here. An energetic beat with Game rapping naturally well. Ughhhh. 4|Don’t Trip - Features a familiar sample once again. Not one I skip but the lyrics aren't extremely exciting. And I love him, but sometimes Cube's bars are too simple. 5|Standing on Ferraris - Another familiar sample, this time 'Kick in the Door' by Biggie, and lyrically features a Craig Mack reference, with Diddy in the background and outro to keep the Bad Boy theme going. A good song with a catchy hook and I can't help but think the 'I've been shot stabbed, left for dead' is a homage to lyrics from Nas' 'I've been fucked over, left for dead, dissed and forgotten' from Ether. Probably not too far fetched given Game's namedropping and knowledge of hip hop . 6|Dollar and a Dream - Despite the title, there is no J. Cole on this song surprisingly. It's about rising up and features a good hook. Ab Soul contributes an enjoyable verse. 7|Made in America - Transitions from the previous track well again. Ends with Game contemplating about what happened between him and 50. 8|Hashtag - "Egos! Egos!" to answer Game's question. I thought the beginning of this was Lil Jon for a minute. A forgettable song. 9|Circles - About Game's relationship issues with his former (?) fiancee I assume. There are no real two sides to the story here. Game seems to be admitting the relationship ended because he was screwing around. Unless he thinks he should be able to? The best part of the song is midway through when the production changes up to something really nice 'n' jazzy. 10|Uncle (Skit) 11|Dedicated - This is one I skipped after my first listen. Future's minute and a half generic intro hook/verse is just that. 12|Bitch You Ain't S**t - Nothing worth noting by way of substance or lyrics but the nice laid back vibey west coast beat is great. 13|Summertime - Similar to above. 14|Mula - As I've played the album I forget this even exists. As that suggests it's fairly forgettable. 15|The Documentary 2 - The Documentary (the title track from Game's debut) remains my favourite song by Game. I play it often 10 years later. This isn't as good, but still one of the strongest here. Premo provides the beat and Game provides some lyrics that will catch your attention. "I've been rapping for 12 years, 6 months, 16 days // Now I'm a veteran, spit a 16 sixteen ways / Sixteen in a clip, spit it 16 ways / I know six teens, pull up to a sweet sixteen and spray / I'm like sixteen Jay's but the beat I can manage / So every sweet 16 is like Duke and Kansas." 16|New York, New York - A short song where Game touches on many different issues throughout the lyrics like racism, homicide, gay rights, police brutality. 17|100 - Game's verses and the beat are solid. The chorus from Drake though.... How would you like your coffee Aubrey? 18|Just Another Day - Another dope transition. Samples 'Where I'm From' from The Documentary for the hook. Production during the verses is once again laid back and pretty great. 19|LA - Another city shout out song that we've heard so many times. It's fittingly the final song of the album but it is in the weaker handful. As a rapper Game entertains on the sequel to his debut. He uses a variety of flows but doesn't quite change up to copy the guests as he has been accused of on his more recent previous albums. Lyrically as before as well, there are times where I feel the bars could've used another rewrite but there are some memorable lines. In terms of the content, the name dropping again brings him down. It just kind of makes it repetitive. I counted Dr. Dre being dropped on eight of the songs. As I've said on other Game album reviews, the criticism he cops for having so many features is flawed. There are many you don't notice, are in the background, just on the hook, etc. It's a bit of a followed criticism by sheep I feel. Game's biggest strength has always been his ear for beats, and while I don't think the beats are as great here as on most of his albums, the standard is still fairly high. In the end, I was pretty underwhelmed on the first listen or two but it's grown on me largely due to its consistency. There is no great song here though. I don't think I'd put any of these tracks on a Best of Game compilation.

1 Intro: Sea of Sin A minute instrumental with strings and guitar with a small amount of Ed vocals. Feels pointless to me. 2 No Smoke Goes for the epic opener. Good but not great. As with a lot of this album, Game talks about his time in hip hop and what he has brought to the genre. "Bridge the gap between mumble rap and these killers / Bridge the gap between smokers and lean sippers." 3 Five Hundred Dollar Candles Begins with some beautiful keys with an interviewer asking a gang member why he is proud of being in a gang. From there, the song features a chill beat and Game raps largely about his come-up and gang life. "I went from broke, fantasizin' 'bout Christina Aguilera / To puttin' TVs in the dash of my mama's Xterra." 4 The Light The opening with 'Open Your Eyes' by Bobby Caldwell is great. While this has grown on me since the first listen, from the intro, it's a song packed with name dropping, Game just says nothing interesting and the beat isn't strong. 5 Carmen Electra One of my favourites. D'Angelo's 'Devil's Pie' sample makes the beat dope and helps with the nice flow on the hook. 6 Dead Homies The 'ain't all Suge' phrase he uses a few times throughout this album annoys me. Not the most cohesive song. Something about performing sexual acts with women for the ones we've lost. 7 Gold Daytonas "Bron-Bron." that he also uses a few times sounds like a pet name or something. It sounds weird coming from a 40 year old man. A song that isn't about much. The weakest so far I'd say. 8 West Side It surprised me to see this being received worse than the other single, 'Stainless'. This is much better. Lyrically it's general g-rap but there isn't any name dropping, the beat is dope and Game comes with aggression. Probably still my favourite from the album. I wish it had a third verse, but like a number of songs here, it's just two. 9 40 Ounce Love The beat doesn't really change between the verses and hook. Another brag rap tune, with other elements like people asking for shit from him, that doesn't have a focus. "You still got your hand out like I ain't did enough for you." 10 Gucci Flip Flops This is a lil' more introspective about retirement and death. The beat is nice, sampling something, but again there is no musical difference to distinguish the beat from the hook. 11 Born 2 Rap The hook is good where Game borrows from Geto Boys' 'Mind Playing Tricks on Me'. Lyrically, Game celebrates his come-up and success. One of the strongest. "I sit alone in my room in the zone writin' classics." 12 Welcome Home I haven't heard a lot of Nipsey but if this is how he usually raps and rhymes I don't see the fuss with him. He ends every bar with "nigga" on the hook which brings it done a notch. Good song though. Game raps well. 13 Interlude: Help Me Eh. Sly croons acapella. 14 I Didn't Wanna Write This Song Nipsey tribute song. "Stevie Wonder singin', he can't even see your coffin." It's heartfelt but it's kind of boring. Maybe it needed more in the hook. 15 The Code I like this one, but again, it's full of repetitive lyrics we've all heard before. Production is nice. 16 Stay Down A chick tune with Bryson taking over at times. 17 Hug the Block As Game normally has had on his albums, here is the personal track. Game directs this song at his brother. Another strong track. 18 Ask for Me Game's change of voice on the hook annoys me a bit but this is one of the best thanks to the fast keys. 19 Stainless Game says very little new or interesting here and it is full of name dropping. If people like this it's probably because of Paak's long chorus. 20 Gangstas Make the Girls Go Wild Sounds like the Chris Brown and Game featured Nas song 'Make The World Go Round'. I think they both sample 'People Make the World Go Round'. 21 Blood Thicker Than Water 22 Rewind II Game does his own version of the creative 'Rewind' from Nas' Stillmatic where he tells a story backwards. 23 One Life This sounds like something else as well. I'm thinking Nas' 'Stay' but it could be something else. About taking risks, living your life. "They told Dre not to sign that nigga and he a hot head" 24 Cross on Jesus Back Sounds like a beat that would be perfect for Kendrick. Vibey tune with a good hook, but I'm not sure how well all of the lyrics connect to it. 25 Roadside Apparently Ed Sheeran and Game were working on a project together a while back which might explain why he is here twice. Maybe they are from those sessions. Game gets conscious, touching on a number of topics from racism, losing loved ones, religion and XXX. It's alright. Not one I'll rush back to in the future. There's something about it including Game's vocals that sound different to the rest of the songs. Sounds lower Q. - I've been a fan of The Game since the days of 'The Documentary. I've eagerly anticipated each album and after a number of spins of this I'd say if this is the way he is gong out, he is going out with one of his worst albums. The main reason I say that is, be it, 'Westside Story', 'It's Okay (One Blood)', ' Letter to the King', 'Ricky', 'Blood Diamonds' and to a lesser degree, 'Step Up', almost all have had at least one track to go back to years later. There is nothing I find to be amazing here and there are 25 songs! I'd rather this than a 7 track album with 2 minute songs but if the success rate isn't high, it's very noticeable. Given he has said it's his last album, there are a number of songs that would have fitted as a closer, instead it feels like a collection of songs rather than a well-sequenced album. He has never been a brilliant songwriter but I feel this is a step down. I don't think he has a lot left to say. After all of the music he has dropped though, it isn't surprising. In terms of the beats, Game has had some of the best ears of any rapper. Most of the production is good here but there isn't much if anything that touches what he's had before. There are probably fewer bangers too, with more of a chill/vibey feel overall, which fits the theme of being his swansong, but makes for a worse album. I think a few not having much or anything to make the hook standout from the verses contributes to these feelings as well. When an artist gives you a lot of music, I'm generally of the opinion that you shouldn't be too critical when a few don't work if the high moments are high enough, but they're not here. Beats: ★★★☆ Rapping/Bars: ★★★ Hooks: ★★☆ Best Tracks: Five Hundred Dollar Candles, Carmen Electra, West Side, Born 2 Rap, Hug the Block, Ask for Me, Cross on Jesus Back.